Interventional Bronchoscopy in King Hussain Medical Center (KHMC), Jordan : Methods Evaluation and Comparison

Objectives: In this study our aim is to compare sample adequacy obtained using two of the least invasive techniques; blind-TBNA and EBUS-TBNA that are routinely used for obtaining tissue samples for diagnosing mediastinal and hilar masses at King Hussain Medical Center (KHMC). Method: 73 patients underwent diagnostic interventional bronchoscopy for mediastinal and hilar mass in the period between January 2015 and March 2017; the p value was calculated using the two-sample proportion test to identify difference in the Population Proportions. Results and Conclusion: EBUS-TBNA technique is shown to have a higher diagnostic yield (79%) compared to blind-TBNA technique (65%) although statically P value shows no significant difference between the two techniques. Still EBUS-TBNA has an advantage over the blind-TBNA especially for small and deep station lymph node or masses because its real-time visualization during sampling, helps to avoid any vascular injuries, and also decreases the need for another attempt of sampling. Despite our short experience in this field, we have excellent results; both methods of interventional bronchoscopy techniques that are carried at KHMC are efficient and effective. Accordingly, we recommend using both interventional bronchoscopy techniques as standard procedure, where it will help to minimize the number of open surgeries, complications and longtime hospital staying.